About

 

I graduated the Royal School of Needlework apprenticeship scheme in 2003 after 3 years of intensive training in all aspects of traditional hand embroidery.

Jen Goodwin Embroidery was born in the years to follow, starting with a small range of embroidery kits alongside occasional workshop tuition on a part time basis.

I decided it was time to take the blind jump into full time self employment after spending time in the RSN studio working on the wedding dress of the Duchess of Cambridge. Getting back into stitching on more ambitious projects and thinking of stitching everyday was the push I needed. However, life managed to postpone my start date by a year due to other work commitments, this allowed a lot of planning time to hit the ground running.

The 18th May 2012 was the start of the happiest career I could have imagined, offering so many different opportunities from embroidering dresses worn to the Oscars, restoring old textiles, ecclesiastical commissions to embroidering the interior of a vintage car!

I am very passionate about offering a wide range of embroidery kits. I aim to design unique projects which are both contemporary in feel and yet still built on solid techniques. The range of kits is constantly being expanded, many of these kits are also accompanied by videos to ensure the techniques being learnt are accurately worked.

I moved into my permanent studio space at Walford Mill Crafts just over a year later, 1st June 2013, this is very much the longterm home of my business. This is the venue where I teach a range of courses and most importantly is the venue where you will find me stitching most days of the week.

Here I focus on creating complex and detailed pieces of art embroidery. These pieces are not intended to become embroidery kits or to be replicated by others but are ways to show how embroidery is a beautiful art form that should not be discarded by the wider art community as just a hobby.

2020 was obviously a testing year for so many small independent businesses, it was filled with great lows such as leaving the studio for months however there was the high of seeing my first book published. Blackwork Embroidery is such a passion of mine, I hope the book continues to bring people to this wonderful technique.

In 2023, Jen was honoured to be part of the Embroidery Studio team at the Royal School of Needlework who worked on a number of items for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla, including The Queen’s Robe of Estate, the Anointing Screen, Chairs of State and the Stole Royal.”